An Open Letter To The Linux Enthusiasts. 4172

No Jackson, that is what people hiding behind their computers and forgetting all about common courtesy and treating each other with respect is about. It isn't just Linux users...it is common in the Windows-Mac argument and I've seen in in Sony-JVC and other such places. You'd think they were talking about Israel and the Palestinians. I take that back - you'd think they WERE Israel and the Palestinians.

Here's an article for all you unabashedly mannerless flamers who think that anyone who has a different point of view is a stupid moronic butthole or some derivative thereof:

Ground Rules for the Windows-Macintosh War by David Pogue of the New York Times

Last week, I wrote about some of the changes Microsoft has in store for the next version of Windows, which is slated for the end of 2006. Interestingly, very few of you responded to that column, probably because so much may change in the next 19 months.

But a few of you fired off diatribes about how I'm either a Microsoft "shill" or an Apple "apologist" (or maybe it was the other way around). It's not just me, either; it's a running sardonic joke among tech columnists that you can't even USE the word "Apple" or "Microsoft" without getting hate mail from somebody or other.

It's kind of amazing that various extremists could find the same column too pro-Microsoft AND too pro-Apple. But hey--that's the nature of ideological soldiers, whether they're in the conservative-liberal war, the evolutionist-creationist war or the Hummer-Prius war.

The Mac-Windows war, though, is especially pointless, protracted, and winnerless. There will always be people on each side who are every bit as rabid and un-convincible as those in any other religious war.

Still, I'd like to suggest, as a starting point of civility, a few pointers forparticipants in the O.S. war. Consider it one man's version of, "Can't we all just get along?"

1. Hate something for its failings, not for its success.

It's totally fine to criticize something because of its flaws--to hate Windows because it's bloated and cryptic, for example, or the iPod because it's too easily scratched. But condemning something just because it's the dominant product is just sour grapes. Arguments along the lines of "I hate Bill Gates because he's rich" or "I hate the iPod because everyone has one" add nothing to the dialogue.

2. No condemning something until you've tried it.

If everyone abided by this idea, about 95 percent of all the Windows-Macintosh diatribes would evaporate overnight. But here it is: If you haven't tried something, then you really have no basis to comment.

3. end matters.

I'm so tired of reading discussions like this: Person A: "I love Mac OS X Tiger! That Spotlight thing is so cool: press a keystroke, type a few letters, and get an instantaneous listing every file, folder and program containing that text."

Person B: "You pathetic loser! It's called hard-drive indexing, and Windows XP has had it from Day One." Of course, the truth is that Windows Indexing Service is to Spotlight as Thomas the Tank Engine is to a bullet train. In Indexing Service, you can't search with a single keystroke, the speed is nothing like Spotlight's, you can't search for metadata (115 kinds of secondary information, like music genre, Photoshop layer names, camera settings in digital photos, etc.), the index isn't updated in real time as you create or delete documents, and so on.

It goes the other way, too. "I love how Windows XP lets me delete or rename files right in the Open or Save dialog boxes."

"What's the big deal? On the Mac, we just switch to the desktop and delete or rename things there."

Sorry, but that's just not as good as being able to do it within the dialog boxes.

The bottom line: How well something works and how elegantly it's been built is also relevant to the "which is better" discussion.

4. Don't make grandiose purchasing plans by guessing on technology's future.

This pointer is directed exclusively at Mac-bashers, particularly the ones on the nation's boards of education.

If you decide to standardize on Windows across all schools, fine. But make sure you have legitimate reasons like economics or the need to run some Windows-only software suite.

"We want the kids to learn what they'll one day use in the business world," however, is NOT a good reason. If you think you know what anyone will be using in 2020 (when today's first graders will graduate from college), you must have a heck of a magical crystal ball.

Truth is, by 2020, no operating system will look anything like it does today. By 2020, we may well be using holography or tablets or glorified cellphones instead of computers. Claiming to know what company's operating system today's kids will be using when they graduate college, or how that software will work, is nonsense.

5. Consider that they may have a point.

Neither side's members should be allowed to cover their ears and sing "Blah blah blah!" at the top of their lungs when they hear an argument that could rock their worldview. As long as the points are factual, fair and substantive, you should consider them.

Remember: Apple and Microsoft routinely play O.S. leapfrog and regularly adopt each other's feature ideas; eventually, aficionados in both camps will enjoy similar enhancements to the computing experience. As we carry on the never-ending debate, try to generate more light and less heat. Only then can we discover what aspects of system software are truly valuable, and thereby usher them into existence for everyone to enjoy.

This week's Pogue's Posts blog.

Visit David Pogue on the Web at DavidPogue.com.

Love, Craig